I love a good picross puzzle. There’s just something about their simplicity. You have rows of numbers. Some rows are filled in. Others aren’t. There’s very clear rules, and as long as you follow them, you’ll be able to carve out a hidden picture, which then becomes an object. These puzzles are just so brain-tickling.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is the latest game to adopt this puzzle system, for a cosy picross game that features a really sweet, subtle theme. Your primary task is to solve a series of picross puzzles – 500 puzzles total in the final game – but as you complete each puzzle, you’re also collecting furniture items and customisation.
This furniture can be placed in a tiny little home, for your very own little rat. And then you get to watch the rat run around their tiny space, interacting with all the objects you’ve created. The home isn’t an essential part of gameplay, but it’s a lovely reward for completing puzzles, and gives Squeakross its sense of impetus and drive.
It was for this reason I kept pushing forward with puzzles, even when they grew more challenging: to make my rat happy, and to see it thrive. And of course, with stickers given every few puzzles, there was also other incentives ensuring my rat had the perfect, cosy space to live.
The lure of Squeakross
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve returned often to Squeakross, even with a plethora of other games awaiting me – partly for the simple joys of its gameplay, and partly because I’m worried my rat doesn’t have enough furniture to play with. It needs the best house. The best furniture. It deserves the world.
Of course, at the heart of this moreish drive is puzzles that reward patience and deep thinking, with each picross being more head-scratching than the last. There’s so much I enjoy about how Alblune has implemented this classic puzzle system.
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There’s the flow of logic in each picross design, and the need to make assumptions. There’s the way that puzzle solutions can be checked easily and quickly in a way that doesn’t punish you. There’s the fact that every piece of the placed puzzle is cheese.
There’s joy in all facets of this game’s approach.
Presented with a new puzzle, it’s so satisfying to work out the hidden logic behind it. If one row has a cheese block, and it must be a three-continuous block, then you can cross off many other blocks in its row. Then, you can take a look at clues in the upper or leftmost rows, to figure out 3-3-1 can only be delivered one way, to ensure the pattern remains. With a vague silhouette clue, you can also use logic to figure out where cheese might be placed, to form the clearest picture.
Picross puzzles rule. Squeakross: Home Squeak Home implementing them so well into a cosy home builder makes it a must-play for puzzle game and picross fans, and anyone looking for a wholesome time. This is not a complex game by any means. In fact, it’s a relatively simple one. But in its simplicity, Squeakross is grand – and I find myself think about it constantly.
Squeakross: Home Squeak Home is set to launch later in 2025. Stay tuned for a firm release date.
